A Tory councillor faces the sack after posting an article on his own website entitled 'There's nothing wrong with racism' in which he claimed 'negroes tend to be less bright' than whites.

The article by East Sussex Tory Graham Sampson, who is also a university professor, will embarrass the Conservative leader, Iain Duncan Smith, who is trying to defend his party from allegations of racism.

Last week he sacked front-bench spokeswoman Ann Winterton after she made a racist joke about Pakistanis at a rugby club dinner. Duncan Smith is under pressure to force backbencher Andrew Hunter to resign as patron of a far-right magazine.

Samspon's article claims racism 'is as perfectly natural as a man having sex with a woman'. On his website, he states: 'There is overwhelming scientific evidence that races differ to some extent in their average intelligence levels - yellow-skinned Orientals tend to be rather brighter than whites, negroes tend to be rather less bright.'

The Wealden councillor claims that objecting to racism as an emotion is 'just silly'. He describes multiculturalism as 'wicked madness' and concludes his essay by saying 'if I am told I am a racist, I don't splutter indignant denials... I just say "racialist, actually".'

A Tory spokesman said last night: 'We will be holding an inquiry and senior figures in the party will be studying the allegations in detail and be speaking to Professor Sampson at the earliest opportunity to find out more about his views and whether they are compatible with the Tory Party.'

Sampson reiterated his views to The Observer, saying it was 'scientifically hard to disagree that negroes were less bright than whites'. Sampson said it was the job of 'professional academics to draw attention to awkward truths'. He said: 'It is simply the case that the majority of people have a feeling of preference to their own race than others.'

Sampson, who studied at Cambridge and Yale, is currently professor of natural language computing at the University of Sussex. He has also worked on a number of computer projects sponsored by the Ministry of Defence.

The leader of the Liberal Democrats on Wealden district council, which is controlled by the Tories, have called on him to resign and for Duncan Smith to kick him out of the party.

Allan Thurley said: 'These views are utterly disgusting and belong more to the National Front rather than the Conservative Party. He should resign from the council immediately.'

The leader of the council, the Conservative Rupert Thornely-Taylor, said that he would be investigating the matter and would be discussing the views with Sampson.

He said: 'Graham Sampson is a man who holds strong views but I am a bit surprised he has posted such stuff on a web page. Racism does not belong in the Tory party nor in Wealden council, and I will be looking into the matter.' A spokesman for Conservative Central Office said officials would investigate Sampson's views.

Tory chairman David Davis said: 'This a continuing issue. Don't imagine that this is a single action in this direction. Our duty and responsibility is to make sure that we don't tolerate the sorts of comments that are offensive to minority communities.'

The following correction was printed in the Observer's For the record column, Sunday May 19 2002

The East Sussex Tory councillor who posted an article of his own website entitled 'There's nothing wrong with racism' is Geoffrey, not Graham, Sampson.